The invention is concerned with a method and a device for time-synchronous conduction of signals.
Such time-synchronous conduction of signals is of importance for example for audio/video systems and for multichannel audio systems. In those cases, there is always the necessity to have signals, transferred from one or several signal sources to one or several signal sinks through various signal paths, be conducted to the sink or sinks time-synchronously and to reproduce them there.
In case of conducting synchronous signals through asynchronous signal paths, time-synchronous conduction to the signal sinks can be achieved by introducing time marks into the data signal to be transferred. These introduced time markers are used at the end of an asynchronous path for conducting the signals correctly in time. The time marks are then removed again from the transferred data signal.
Known digital transfer systems are based on this principle. In these, by predetermining a reference model for the receiver, the occurring delay times and processing times are known, so that the sender or the signal source can calculate the time marks to be introduced into the data signals, using a common time basis and the known delay times or processing times. Systems which operate according to this procedure are described, for example, in the Standard IEC 13818 “Coding of moving pictures and associated audio” as well as in IEC 61883-4 “Consumer audio/video equipment—Digital interface—Part 4: MPEG data transmission”.
In the known procedure, it is a disadvantage that it can only be used if known signal processing paths are present, because a prerequisite is the presence of a reference model of the different data paths with the aid of which the occurring delay times and processing times can be determined.
Based on this state of the art, the task of the invention is to create a method or a device for time-synchronous conduction of signals which does not have the above disadvantages.